Gearing up for Hartford & other stories from the world of aviation

Ryanair launched its summer 2017 schedule from Belfast International airport, with 11 routes including Berlin, London and Milan, which will deliver 1.1m customers and Ryanair claims will support 800 jobs at Belfast International Airport.Ryanair’s 11 Belfast routes are to Alicante, Bergamo, Berlin-Schönefeld, Gdańsk (begins November 2), Kraków (begins October 30), Lanzarote (begins October 31), London-Gatwick, Málaga, Tenerife-South (begins October 31), Warsaw-Modlin (begins November 2) and Wrocław (begins October 31). Ryanair also announced summer 2017 operations from Pescara, Lisbon, Faro and Oradea.

• Pat Byrne’s Cityjet is in negotiations to purchase Cimber Air from SAS, which owned the eight-aircraft airline since March 1 2015. The proposed takeover would take Cityjet’s fleet from eight to 19.
• KLM‘s codeshare on Cork-Amsterdam is not timetabled in summer 2017.
• The Galway-Aran PSO tender deadline has passed and applications are now being assessed.  Gaeltacht Minister Sean Kyne says his department officials are liaising with the Attorney General’s office on the options available in the interim period after the current contract expires at the end of this month and the start of the new contract at the beginning of December.
• CarTrawler released its Ancillary Revenue, branding strategy and volume reports. Ryanair earned US$1.7bn ancillary revenue in 2015. Aer Lingus is earned $240m. CarTrawler believes airlines are better maintaining their own brand identity on ancillary products rather than promoting other brands
• The Lufthansa board is expected to approve the acquisition of Brussels Airlines on Wednesday next.
• UNWTO found Europe guilty of financing of large aircraft to the disadvantage of Boeing.
• IATA’s Alexandre de Juniac reiterated the Association’s forecast for a collective airline industry net profit of US$39.4 bn for 2016, which would be a record for the industry.
• EasyJet expected to carry over 255,000 passengers on Friday (23 Sep) which would be the busiest day in its history, with more than 1,600 flights taking off across its network. The airline was reported as considering buying TUIfly to enable it to continue operations in Europe after Britain’s exit from the EU.
• Brazil’s tax authority added Ireland, Austria, Curacao and Saint Martin to its list of countries denominated as tax havens, meaning airlines that have leased 300 aircraft from companies registered in Ireland, will have to start paying a 25pc tax rate an estimated €273.7m on leasing contracts that are signed for up to 10 years.
• Belfast City Airport has hosted a forum for its partner airports to discuss commercial strategy, challenges and trends in relation to the retail offering, car park products, currency exchange and car hire options available at airports.
• AerCap is to host an investor day in New York on November 16.
• Fitch’s Aircraft Leasing Sector Review said global passenger traffic grew 6.5pc in 2015 and 6pc in the first half of 2016,
• Brad is single, some innovative advertising from Norwegian.
• Austrian airline Viennaline has launched the world’s shortest flight from St Gallen–Altenrhein Airport in Switzerland with Friedrichshafen Airport in Germany. The route lasts just eight minutes and covers only 20km; it’s just one of four that Viennaline operate.
• Etihad is holding recruitment dates for cabin crew and in-flight chefs and is calling for CV’s to the Crown Plaza Hotel in Santry, Dublin on tomorrow Monday September 26th between 8am and 6pm.   Applicants that meet the airline’s criteria will be invited back for an assessment the following day Tuesday.   Etihad Airways already employs 200 Irish staff.
• The Lufthansa Group and Air China have signed a joint venture with the aim of expanding their codeshare deals.
• Galway passenger Emmet Keary was presented with a pair of Aer Lingus flight tickets to New York to celebrate being the six millionth passenger since Shannon became an independent airport operation on January 1st  2013.
• Qatar Airways is to expand their capacity to Brazil and Argentina by 40pc from December 1 2016, when upgrading its existing aircraft for both routes from a Boeing 777-200LR, to a Boeing 777-300ER.
• Thomas Ramdahl claimed that it would use 737 MAX 8 planes to make lower fares feasible from next year. The airline’s Irish subsidiary has had its application for permission to fly from Cork and Shannon to Boston stalled by the American authorities. The 737-8 Max has also been ordered by Ryanair.
  • Watch here Michael O’Leary’s description of way Norwegian are being utterly shamefully blocked.
  • Watch here Michael O’Leary criticism the EU for being weak on the Norwegian proposal
  • Watch here Roger Dow speaking about Norwegian Air International proposed low cost routes across the Atlantic